Combustion-control apparatus



Dec. 23, 1924. 1,520,530

5. s. CARRICK COMBUSTION CONTROL APPARATUS Filed Nov. 20, 1922 -2 Sheets-Sheet 1 D 23, 1924. G. s. CARRICK COMBUSTION CONTROL APPARATUS s-Sheef. 2

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Patented Dec. 23, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GERALD S. CABRICK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COMBUSTION-CONTROL APPARATUS.

Application filed November 20, 1922. Serial No. 602,311.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GERALD S. OARRICK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Combustion-Control Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in combustion control apparatus and more especially to such apparatus adapted for use in connection with'a plurality of combustion controlling members. The apparatus is so designed that such plurality of combustion controllin members may all be regulated or contro. led by variations in one boiler variant.

As an example, for the pur ose of illustrating my invention, I have ere shown such plurality of combustion controlhn members as consisting of two dampers an one blower engine. The two dampers illustrated may be on two separate boilers or on the same boiler, and the blower enine may operate the draft of one of the ilers having one of such dampers, or the draft of a third-boiler. lhe showing of two dampers and one blower engine will serve to illustrate the invention. It is obvious, however, that, without detracting from the spirit of my invention, more dampers on additional boilers and more blower engines, and other combustion controlling members, may be operated by means of my apparatus. My apparatus is so arranged that all of the dampers, blower engine, and other combustion controlling members are controlled by the pressure in one boiler, header or the like. The showing, however, of the steam pressure in a boiler! as controlling the various members is merel for the purpose of illustration, it bein o vious that other variants in connection with the boiler, such as the pressure in the combustion chamber, could be used for controlling thevarious members.

Among "the features of my invention are the rovisions of means for varying the ositlon of the dampers and speed of the blower engine in an infinite number of steps within a given ran e. In other words, the dampers will be bafimced so that each will alwaystake a definite position relative to the then existin pressure in the boiler. Likewise the spec of the blower engine will have a definite relation to the then existing steam pressure in the boiler which operates the apparatus. My improved apparatus causes the position of each damper and the speed of the blower engine to change as the pressure changes.

It is to be noted also that with no improved apparatus, heavy dampers an othor heavy mechanism can be delicately controlled and adjusted in accordance with changes in the boiler pressure. To accomplish this, I have provided independent power means for moving each damper and a throttle for the blower engine, and such separate independent power means are all controlled by a master independent power means, which in turn is controlled bythe steam pressure. Such independent power means are effective to move hea dampers, or other heavy mechanism, an overcome any resistance or friction that there might be in the adjustment of the damper, or the blower engine.

Among the features of my invention, it is to be noted that the dampers, the blower engine, and other combustion controlling members are balanced so that each will always take a certain definite relative osition with respect to the then existing iler pressure which controls the ap aratus, and retain these positions until sucli boiler pressure changes. With apparatus of this kind, there will be no flopping of the dam ers from a wide open position to a tightly closed position, or vice versa. The dampers and the speed of the blower engine will be always delicately adjusted or balanced in a certain position relative to the boiler pressure.

Other features and advantages of my invention will appear more fully as I proceed with my specification.

. A form of device embodying the features of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view,

partly diagrammatic, showng the apparatus, Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the mercury reservoir and float reservoir, Fig. 3 is a view of the master regulator partly in .vertical section, Fig. 4 is a view of one of the auxiliary regulators, and Fig 5 is a view showing the use of a regulator for manual control.

As shown in the drawings, ipe 1 is connected to a steam boiler an leads to a reservoir 2, in which is placed a quantity of mercury 3. Another p1pe 4 connects the bottom of the mercury tank 2 to a cylindrical reservoir 5, arranged above the mercury tank. 5 indicates a cylindrical casing surrounding the reservoir 5 and other parts for protection. Within the reservoir 5 is mounted a float 6, having its upper end connected by means of a rod 7 to a yoke 8, the lower end of which is suitably connect-- ed to a cable 10 extending downwardly to the master regulator, indicated in general by A. This master regulator A is shown in Fig. 1 with the casing over the same. In Fig. 3 it is shown with the casing removed, so that the parts and working of the same may be better disclosed and described.

The cable 10 extends downwardly and around the wheel 11. Having passed around the wheel 11, the cable 10 extends upwardly and is attached to one end of the horizontal arm 12 mounted on the upper end of the piston rod 13. The piston rod 13 extends downwardly and is fastened to a piston 14, adapted for reciprocal movement in a cylinder 15. The wheel 11 is mounted on an axle 70, which is slidably mounted in two vertical ways or guides 71, thus permitting the wheel 11 to hang in the 100 of the cable 10 and also permitting it to e moved upwardly and downwardly by means of said cable. The wheel 11 carries a bifurcated arm extending downwardly and attached to a weight 73, which in turn carries a downwardly extending piston rod 74 carrying two pistons 75 and76, adapted for reciprocal movement in a cylinder 77. The piston 75 is arranged on the rod 74 slightly above the piston 76; and these two pistons ,form a part of what virtually constitutes a four-way valve. The cylinder 77 is provided at one side with two ports 79 and 80, respectively, the former being above the latter. On the opposite side, such cylinder is provided with an inlet port 84 centrally located with respect to the two ports 7 9- and 80. The pistons 75 and 76 are so spaced on the rod 74 that they will close the two ports 79 and 80 at the same time. They are shown in this position in Fig. 3. This position will be referred to as the neutral position of the four-way valve. The port 79 is connected to the top of the cylinder 15, by means of the pipe 87, and likewise the port 80 is con nected to the bottom of the cylinder 15, by means of the pipe 88. The inlet port 84 is connected by means of a pipe 89 to any suit-. able source of fluid pressure, such as water valve is in this position, water is permitted to escape from the bottom of the cylinder 15 through the pipe 88, port 80, below the pisston 76 and out of the discharge pipe 90. When the four-way valve is in a position with the pistons 75 and 7 6 below the neutral position, shown in Fig. 3, pressure is admitted from the port 84 through the port 80, and pipe 88 to the lower end of the cylinder 15, operating to raise the piston 14. Discharge of water from the upper end of the cylinder 15 is permitted through the pipe 87, port 79 above the piston 75, out of the upper end of the cylinder 77, downwardly around the outside of such cylinder and out of the discharge pipe 90. It will thus be seen that upward movement of the Wheel 11 will move the pistons 75 and 76 upwardly from the neutral position shown to adm1t water pressure to the upper end of the cylinder 15, to lower the piston 14; and downward movement of the pistons 7 5 and 76, caused by lowering of the wheel 11, will have the reverse effect on the piston 14. The

upper end of the rod 13 is attached to a cable 91, extending upwardly over a pulley 92, then horizontally and over a pulley 93 and thence downwardly, having attached to its lower end a weight 94. The device, indicated by A and shown in Fig. 3, is referred to as the master regulator. Its operation is as follows: As the boiler pressure rises, the increased pressure will be transmitted through the pipe 1 to the space in the mercury tank 2 above the mercury 3. This increased pressure will force the mercury 3 through the pipe 4 into the reservoir 5 and cause the float 6 to be raised. Raising of the float 6 will operate through the cable 10 to lift the wheel 11; and this will operate on the four-way valve, as described above, to cause the piston 14 to be lowered. This lowering of the piston 14, however, operates through the arm 12 on the cable 10 to lower the wheel 11 to again restore the four-way valve to its neutral position to stop movement of the piston 14. Likewise lowering of the boiler pressure causes a lowering of the wheel 11 and consequent operation \of the four-way valve to admit water below the piston 14 and raise the same. Such raising of the piston 14, however, operates through the arm 12 on the wheel 11 to again restore the four-way valve to its neutral position and stop movement of the piston 14. It will be seen, therefore, that the piston 14 will always be stopped or balanced in a certain position relative to the existing steam pressure. Changes in the pressure, either upwardly or downwardly, will cause relative movement of the piston 14. It is to be particularly'noted, however, that as soon as the piston 14 moves a little distance, such movement operates on the four-way valve to stop movement. Such movement of the piston 14 0 erates through the rod 13 to move the cale 91. It will be seen, therefore, that the master regulator A controls the cable 91 according to the steam pressure in the boiler to which the pipe 1 is connected.

The master regulator A, operating through the cable 91, serves to control all the dampers, blower engine and other combustion controlling members that may be attached to such cable. It is obvious that any number of such devices may be attached, whether the same are on one or more boilers. I have here shown, as attached to such cable 91, two dampers indicated by 101 and 102 respectively, anda blower engine indicated by 103. In connection with each of the combustion controlling members, I provide an auxiliary regulator. I have indicated such auxiliary regulators here by B, G and D for the two dampers and blower engine respectively. In Fig. 1, I have shown these three auxiliary regulators with their casings on. In Fi 4, I have shown auxiliary regulator B wit the casing removed, for the purpose of better disclosing and describing the same. It will not be necessary to describe in detail the auxiliary regulators C and D since they are the same as B. The auxiliary regulator B is substantially the same as the master regulator A except that it is provided with a safety weight 120. Attached to the cable 91 at 125 is a cable 126 extending parallel thereto and over a wheel 126, thence downwardly over a wheel 127 on the upper end of the safety weight 120. From the wheel 127, the cable 126 passes upwardly and over a wheel 128 and thence downwardly over a wheel 129 and thence upwardly, its upper end being attached to the horizontal arm 130. In this auxiliary regulator, the wheel 129 is the same as the wheel 11 in the master regulator and it carries a weight 131 the same as the weight 73, and likewise operates a four-way valve indicated here in general by 132, the same as the fourway valve in the master regulator. In connection with the four-way valve is a cylinder 135, the same in all respects as the cylinder 15 in the master regulator, in which operates a piston to which is attached a piston rod 136, the same as the piston rod 14 in the master regulator. The piston rod 136 has its upper end attached to a cable 137 which in turn controls a damper 101. The 7 operation of the auxiliary regulator B is the same as that of the master regulator. That is, upward and downward movement of the weight 131 operates the four-way valve 132 to cause downward and upward movement respectively of the piston rod 136. This rod operates the damper 101, downward movement operating to close the damper and upward movement of the rod 136 operates to lower the wheel 129 to restore the four-way valve 132 to its neutral position to stop movement of the rod 136. The only difference between this auxiliary regulator B and the master regulator A is the provision of' the safety weight 120. Normally this weight rests on the shelf 140 as shown. In normal operation it does not leave this shelf. If, however, the damper 101 should stick, or some of the other parts become stuck or jammed, when the cable 126 is pulled, the safety weight 120 will be lifted from the shelf, thuspreventing breakage of any of the parts. Fluid under pressure, such as water, is admitted to the fourway valve 132 through the inlet pipe 141 from any suitable source of supply. The cable 126 is provided with adjusting means between the ulley 126 and the safety weight 120. uch adjusting means com-- prise two telescoping members consisting of a rod 143 provided with holes adapted to slide in a tube 144 provided with a hole adapted to accommodate a pin 145. The holes in the rods 143 are indicated by 146. The rod 143 may be placed in. the tube 144 in the desired position and the pin 145 inserted in the registering holes in order to give the desired adjustment to the parts.

The auxiliary regulator C is the same and controls the damper 102 in the same manner. The auxiliary regulator D is similar to the auxiliary regulator B and controls the throttle 150 of the blower en ine 103 through the cable 151, correspon ing to the cable 137. A downward pull on the cable 151 operates on the lever 152 to close the throttle 150 and upward movement has the reverse effect. The auxiliary regulators C' and D are each provided with inlet pi es 157 and 158 respectively through which t ey aresupplied with fluid, such as water, from any suitable source of supply.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows. The operation of the master regulator A has been described. As noted, this master regulator causes movement of the cable 91 correspondin -to changes in pressure in the boiler. Thls cable 91 acts on the cables joined to it, 126, 165 and 166, operating the auxiliary regulators B, C and D respectively, which control the two dampers and throttle of the blower engine respectively, in the same manner as the master regulator controls the cable 91..

In Fig. 5, I have shown the manner in which one of the regulators may be used with manual operation. The regulator here shown, indicated in general by E, corresponds in all res ects to the master regulator A, shown an described in detail above. This regulator, however, is not controlled by a float but is adapted to be controlled through the cable 200 which in turn is controlled by the lever 201, adapted for manual operation. Fluid, such as water, is supplied 'to the regulator E from the pipe 202 III from any suitable source. The desired output from the regulator is delivered from the piston rod 203, corresponding to the piston rod 13, and thence to the cable 204 corresponding to the cable 91. 'It will be seen that manual operation of the lever 201 will thus serve to cause the water pressure to make a corresponding movement of the cable 204. This cable may be attached to any combustion controlling means such as a damper or other device. Since the water entering through the pipe 202 may be of any desired pressure, itis possible to move a heavy damper, or other heavy mechanism, having a large amount of friction. The water pressure servesto overcome the friction and move the heavy parts without offering any great opposition to movement of the manually controlled lever 201.

While I have shown anddescribed certain embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modi fications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims, in which it is my intention to claim all novelty inherent in my invention as broadly as possible in view of the prior art. a,

That I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a device of the character described, a plurality of combustion controlling members, independent power means for actuating said combustion controlling members, and auxiliary power controlling means in connection with each of said combustion controlling members for controlling the power delivered to said combustion controlling members, each of said power c0n-- livered to said combustion controlling members, each of said auxiliary power controlling means also adapted to be actuated directly by the independent power means, and a master power controlling means adapted to be actuated by variations in pressure in a boiler, for controlling said auxiliary power controlling means.

3. In a device of the character described, a plurality of combustion controlling members, independent power means for actuating said combustion controlling members, auxiliary power controlling means in connection with each of the combustion controlling members for controlling the power delivered to said members, said auxiliary power controlling means also adapted to be actuated directly by the independent power means, and a master regulator adapted to control said auxiliary power controlling means, said master regulator comprising independent power means and power controlling means, said power controlling means adapted to be actuated by changes in pressure in a boiler and also by saidindependent power means. Y

4. In a device of the character described, a control member adapted to be actuated by changes in pressure in a boiler, a plurality of combustion controlling members, independent power means for actuating each combustion controlling member, auxiliary power controlling means for each combustion controlling member for starting operation of the power means to change the position of said combustion controlling member, and a master power controlling means actuated by the pressureactuated control member for controlling the auxiliary power controlling means, each of said auxiliary power controlling means also adapted to be actuated directly by the independent power means to stop operation of said power means upon the particular combustion controlling member reaching a position relative to the setting of the master power controlling means.

Witness my hand and seal this, 24 day of October, 1922.

GERALD S. CARRICK. [L.s.] 

